Last Updated on September 23, 2023 by Solar System Ambassador Pam Roller

Here’s an opportunity shared by our local Solar System Ambassador Pam Roller:

NASA Invites Public to Share Excitement of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid, will return to Earth on Sunday, Sept. 24^th with material from the asteroid Bennu.  Live Coverage on NASA TV at 10:00 a.m. EST

Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber, Editor: Jason Costa

NASA is inviting the public to take part in virtual activities ahead of the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) asteroid sample return mission. This mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid, will return to Earth on Sunday, Sept. 24, with material from the asteroid Bennu. When it arrives, the spacecraft will release the capsule containing pieces of Bennu over Earth’s atmosphere. The capsule will parachute to the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, where the OSIRIS-REx team will be waiting to retrieve it.

Members of the public can register to attend the sample return virtually. As a virtual guest, you will have access to curated resources and mission specific information delivered straight to your inbox. Following each activity, virtual guests are sent a mission specific collectable stamp for their virtual guest passport. Don’t miss this exclusive stamp! It’s only our second event stamp that’s not a rocket!

Live coverage will begin at 10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 24 and air on NASA Television and the agency’s website, as well as YouTube, X, Facebook,  and NASA’s App.

For the latest updates visit: OSIRIS-REx Blog

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with a sample it collected from the rocky surface of asteroid Bennu.   When its sample capsule parachutes down into the Utah desert on Sept. 24, OSIRIS-REx will become the United States’ first mission to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth.  The pristine material from Bennu – rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface in 2020 – will offer generations of scientists a peek into the window of time when the Sun and planets were forming about 4.5 billion years ago

New US Postage Stamp Commemorates NASA’s Asteroid Sample Delivery

Learn around the new postage stamp here!

Credits: U.S. Postal Service, Nathan Marder, Rani Gran, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., Editor: Svetlana Shekhtman, NASA website